It All Started With a Nightmare
by Annzy Bananzy
Summary: Buford and Baljeet love each other, and almost everyone knows it; except them. What will it take for these two to finally tell each other of their feelings? Will a nightmare do the trick?


**Summary**: Buford and Baljeet love each other, and almost everyone knows it; except them. What will it take for these two to finally tell each other of their feelings? Will a nightmare do the trick?

**I hope you enjoy this! I wrote this all in the course of one day… I'm so proud of myself *-* This is for day two of Bujeet week on tumblr; today's prompt was "Nightmare" so… yeah XD Technically a nightmare is involved... **

* * *

Buford tossed and turned under his puffy, gray comforter as sweat broke out on his forehead and his face twisted into an expression of pure torture. "No…" he mumbled pathetically, still dreaming. "No… _No!_" As the last "No" was wrenched from his lips he sat up; eyes wide open and flashing wildly, heart beating faster than a drum, breaths coming quick and ragged.

He cursed himself before laying down again, closing his eyes tightly and grinding his teeth as he ran his large hands through his short, bristly hair. This wasn't the first time he had this horrible, twisted nightmare; he had experienced it a few times before, but lately it was coming every night for the past week. What was his mind trying to tell him?

"Stupid brain," he told himself, "why am I even _having_ nightmares? I'm sixteen years old!" he complained before turning on his side, as if that would cease the nightmare. "I'm tough, I can take anything…"

At least, that's what he thought until he fell asleep again and dreamed the same, terrifying thing…

* * *

"Buford, are you all right?" a pronounced Indian accent reached the large boy's ears just as he was about to fall asleep on his school desk.

"Hmm?" he asked, rubbing his crusted eyes. "Oh… yeah, I'm fine."

"You do not look fine to me," Baljeet said, tilting his head to the side. He was dressed in a blue, button-up polo shirt with khaki pants, which usually made you look dorky but somehow he made it look good. "Do you even know what class you're in?"

"Considering you have mostly honors classes and you're in here with me, I'm guessing Health?"

Baljeet smiled a little. "Correct. And do not sell yourself short, you _are_ in honors history with me."

"Oh yes," Buford scoffed with an eye roll, "history is _so_ useful in the future."

"Well, it is good to know the past so you will not repeat the same mistakes later on, so technically it _is_ useful for the future!"

"Baljeet, I may have given up being a bully in freshman year, but I won't hesitate to punch you…"

Baljeet waved his comment off; both of them knew full-well that the previous bully would be doing no such thing. Once ninth grade hit Buford had realized that being a bully didn't really _get_ him anywhere; the only reason he had been a bully was to get attention and to interact with a lot of people. Really, all he needed were some friends, and he _had_ those. Baljeet becoming his best friend was something that surprised neither him, the Indian boy, or any of their other shared friends. It astounded some of the bullies who kept their title through high school, but no one was going to bully _him_ about it - no one messed with a football player, and everyone knew he was tough and slightly crazy when it came to protecting himself or Baljeet.

"Well, anyways," Baljeet said after a moment, "the bell rang, so we have a free period."

"Great," Buford said before slamming his head down on the desk and closing his eyes.

"Seriously, what is wrong?"

"You know, you _can_ use contractions -"

"Don't change the subject, Buford."

"Hey! You used a contraction!"

"_Buford!_"

"All right, all right!" the defensive boy finally relented, sitting up and yawning. He looked away from Baljeet before saying, "Lately I've been having a very… bad dream…"

"A nightmare?"

"I don't wanna call it _that_," Buford tried to explain, rubbing the back of his head. "It's just, well… a bad dream…" He couldn't think of anyway to describe it; he didn't want to say "nightmare" because that made it sound so weak, and his bad dream wasn't something to joke about.

"And this "bad dream" is causing you to lose sleep?"

Buford nodded before letting his head fall back on the desk and closing his eyes. "Yep. Now let me sleep."

"What is the dream about?" Baljeet asked curiously. He couldn't really imagine anything he'd lose sleep over, the boy's attitude was much more geared towards "fight to the death!" than "run and hide!"

Buford shivered; his dream… his horrible, horrible dream…! "I don't wanna talk about it," he said quickly.

"You cannot tell me _one_ little detail…?"

"Nope."

"Oh come on," Baljeet said, tapping his foot impatiently. "I _am_ taking honors Psychology, maybe I can diagnose you!"

"No thanks."

Baljeet let out a groan before Phineas and Isabella walked in. "Hey boys!" Isabella greeted, cheerful as always. "What'cha doin'?" For her transition to high school, she had traded in her all-pink dress for a white, ruffled skirt with a pink bow towards the bottom and a pink blouse with white trims. Phineas, on the other hand, was rather attached to his orange-and-white striped shirt still.

Baljeet smiled at them quickly before frowning again and pointing to his best friend. "I am _trying_ to get Buford to tell me about his nightmare -"

"_Bad dream_."

" - sorry, "bad dream," but he will not tell me a thing!"

"Oh, you're having bad dreams?" Phineas asked, his eyes saddening. "That's too bad." He was _very_ familiar with nightmares… when his biological father passed away he didn't have a good night's sleep for _months_. Actually, he didn't have a good night's sleep until Ferb started living with them. Somehow, the presence of another person close by eased all of the negative energy out of him…

Phineas' eyes brightened as an idea hatched in his brain, but he didn't say anything as Isabella asked, "Does your dream include a big monster?"

"No," Buford said, rolling his eyes. "What am I, four?"

"Well, lot's of people dream about monsters that haunt their everyday life."

"I thought _Baljeet_ was the nerd here?"

"Well you're not the bully anymore, so the roles can be interchangea -"

"Hey, guys?" Phineas interrupted, smiling. "I think I have an idea to get rid of Buford's nightmare."

"What is it?" Baljeet asked.

"Are you going to build a machine to get rid of bad dreams permanently?" Isabella asked encouragingly; she always thought it was great how Phineas could build anything.

"… No, but that's a good project for later," Phineas admitted, smiling sheepishly. "My plan was for him to have a sleepover."

Everyone stared at Phineas curiously. "A sleepover?" They all asked in unison.

"Well… yeah!" Phineas said, getting more confident. "Having another person in the room might calm your nerves and scare the bad dream away!"

Buford chuckled. "You _still_ talk like a young one, you do."

"I like being innocent, _thank you very much_," Phineas said the last part with a bit of fake sarcasm before laughing it off.

"Your idea is not completely wrong," Baljeet said, his hand to his chin in thought. "After all, children with nightmares fall right to sleep if they know or even just _think_ their parents are in the room, and then the nightmare doesn't come back."

"So, what?" Buford asked, creasing his eyebrows. "You guys wanna sleepover at my place?"

"Sure!" Phineas said, smiling. "Me and Ferb would love to have a sleepover!"

"Where _is_ Ferb, anyways?" Baljeet asked.

"Oh, he wanted to cook some more in home economics," Isabella explained.

"Nerd," Buford muttered under his breath.

"Hey!" Phineas snapped at him, glaring and clenching his fists, "Ferb is _not_ a nerd, you got that?"

"Okay, okay, whatever," Buford said, yawning. He was too tired to care that his comment had actually gotten to the usually happy boy. "So when can you guys come over?"

"I can come over this Friday," Baljeet said. "What about you and Ferb?"

Phineas glared at Buford for a moment longer before thinking. "This Friday… I think we have to do something that day, but I can't remember what…" Isabella coughed, causing Phineas to look at her and blush slightly. "Oh, right… Sorry, I'm catching a movie with Isabella that night and Ferb said he'd wait for us at the arcade."

Isabella smiled before proclaiming proudly. "That's right!" She had managed to _finally_ get some alone time with Phineas! She had spent time with him before, but Ferb was always around; this time the green-haired boy had agreed to stay out of their hair, though how Ferb managed to convince Phineas of this she had yet to find out.

Baljeet applauded her with a smile. "Bravo, Isabella."

She curtsied with her skirt before doing a little twirl and winking at him. "Why, thank you!"

"_Anyways_," Phineas interrupted, looking anywhere except Isabella at this point. He was not enjoying puberty at _all_, really; he missed it when he was nine and everything was plain and simple. What upset him more though, was that Ferb was already _done_ with that stage of his life while he was just _beginning_. This wouldn't have bothered him too much if Ferb would stop giving him those _knowing _looks. Talk about unfair; he thought they did everything together! "We can't make it, but it sounds like Baljeet can come."

The previous bully and nerd duo was completely silent upon those words. If only Baljeet went to Buford's house, they'd be alone together… This thought had both of them blushing slightly while Isabella started giggling and Phineas looked at them strangely. "Um, perhaps the following week would be better, actually," Baljeet said, smiling sheepishly. "I just remembered that I should really start practicing for the math competition coming up."

"And I should probably put a little more effort into my football drills," Buford added hastily.

Phineas tilted his head to the side in confusion. "Why can't you do that later? Isn't Buford's nightmare kind of severe?"

"It's just a bad dream!" Buford snapped. "And it's not that severe."

Phineas scratched the top of his head. "Well, the way you were talking… what's wrong with this week? You're both off, right? You can always practice later -" he stopped talking when Isabella whispered something in his ear. All of a sudden his eyes widened and his face turned as red as his hair. He glanced up at the two boys and laughed nervously, tugging at his shirt collar, "Uh, never mind, I-I'm going to go… see how Ferb's doing!" He turned around and fast-walked out of the room like he was being chased by a slow zombie.

As soon as he left the room they heard Ferb's distinguished voice ask his brother, "How are you, Phineas?"

"Ferb, I _hate_ being a teenager!" came Phineas' annoyed reply, accompanied by their footsteps.

As Ferb's held-back laughter died away, Buford and Baljeet were still in their Health classroom blushing slightly and Isabella was just smiling at them. "So boys, are you sleeping over this Friday or waiting till Phineas and Ferb are available?"

Buford and Baljeet glanced at each other, and after taking a moment to notice the other's blush and turning more red themselves, they both answered, "We'll wait."

* * *

Baljeet picked up Isabella's hairbrush before walking over to her make-up station, where she was seated. After school had ended, Isabella invited the Indian teen over to her place for a study session, but they both knew what they were _really_ going to discuss during this visit…

"You saw him blush, right?" Isabella asked as Baljeet brushed her hair and sighed. "Come on, it was so obvious!"

"Isabella, I do not want to talk about this!" he said as he ran the brush a little too fast through her hair, making it tangle on purpose.

"_Ow!_" Isabella said, holding her hands up to her head and pouting at him. "I'm just saying that maybe it's time you tell him how you feel."

Baljeet sighed, brushing the girls' silky black hair more gently. He was starting to regret the day Isabella discovered his "crush" for his previous tormentor… They had become pretty close friends after that, and usually it was nice to talk to her about his feelings and how upset he got over it sometimes, but when she started pushing him like this… "Oh yeah, I can already see how _that_ would turn out," Baljeet said, rolling his eyes. "Buford is not the type for _romance_, and frankly I cannot handle it right now either. I have college to think about -"

"College is two and a half years away! And didn't you get, like, ten college invitations already?"

"… Yes, but they're away from Danville…"

"You mean, away from Buford?" Isabella guessed. When Baljeet just continued brushing her hair, she knew she was right. "Come on, you two like each other, it's so obvious!"

"It's not _obvious_," Baljeet mumbled.

"Why can't you just play this out?" Isabella continued, knowing that Baljeet was just being pessimistic.

Baljeet's eyes hardened. "That might be good advice for you and Phineas, but me and Buford are kind of a special case."

Isabella scowled before exclaiming angrily, "It's so stupid! Love is love, you can't control how you feel! If Health class has taught us anything, it's taught us _that!_"

"Actually, it tells us we _can_ control it, remember?" Baljeet reminded her, sighing before putting the brush down and sitting on Isabella's bed dejectedly.

Isabella looked at her friend sadly before walking over, sitting next to him, and hugging the sad boy. "Well, I still say it's stupid. You're still the same old Baljeet! Who cares who you like?"

"A lot of people," Baljeet mumbled, not having the motivation to hug the girl back. He looked at her before asking, "What did you tell Phineas back there, anyways?"

"I just told him you two _like_ each other."

"That was uncalled for you know, he is probably going to avoid us now."

"What? No, Phineas is perfectly fine with it, he was just shocked. You know how dense he is, I think he was just surprised he didn't think of it himself."

Baljeet let out a "humph" before pushing Isabella off of him and sighing again. "Just let us be, Isabella, out relationship is fine as it is right now."

Isabella frowned. "I should know more than anyone that just because a relationship is "fine as it is" doesn't mean you won't be asking yourself every day, "What if"? Don't make the same mistakes as me, Baljeet."

"I won't," Baljeet said, frowning. "You actually _have_ the confidence to tell him, and if you and Phineas _do_ become boyfriend and girlfriend _that's_ acceptable, if me and Buford…" he looked down. "We'd be judged everywhere we went."

Isabella's room was silent. They both knew he was right, and with Danville being one of those small towns where everyone knows each other… it made the situation a hundred times worse. "Not _everyone_ will judge -"

"Enough will," Baljeet interrupted her.

Isabella stared at her friend sadly before sighing. "Baljeet, you can't let fear run your life…"

"Really? I've done pretty good so far with fear in charge."

Isabella placed her hands on the boy's shoulders, showing that she was being serious. She looked him in the eyes as she said, "Baljeet, you need to think… who's opinion matters more to you? Buford's, or some hateful strangers' that you don't even know?"

Baljeet stared at her for the longest time, reflecting her question. The immediate answer was obviously Buford; as long as he liked him as a friend, or even something _more, _that made him happy… incredibly so. After all, why should he have eyes for anyone other than the brutish boy? Over the years his features had become more proportional, making him look incredibly handsome, and he even mellowed out and became more serious about his studies. Even if he was never the brightest he always tried his best, especially if his friends needed him, and that was a quality that Baljeet had always admired. He still had the same, hasty, emotional, arrogant, teasing, sarcastic personality from before but also become kinder and more understanding (even if it was only a little bit), which was something that Baljeet found himself loving more and more every day. And sure, most people would say he wasn't going anywhere "big," but he was smart and determined enough to make it in this world. And, like some people, he wasn't going to whine about every little hardship he faced, he was ready to work through his problems; another trait that Baljeet looked up to.

He really did, dare he say it, _love_ Buford, much more than he should. Why _did_ anyone else's opinion matter? If he just kept his mind on Buford alone he would have answered, but as he thought about all the trouble, all the pain a "relationship" would bring both himself, Buford, and their families… he had to wonder, would it really be worth it? Could they even be happy together if they knew everyone else would disapprove? Not to mention that he didn't even know if Buford felt the same way; a blush wasn't exactly "proof," it could be any number of things…

The Indian boy moved Isabella's hands off of him gingerly before replying, "Like I said, our relationship is fine as it is."

* * *

"_Come on, Buford!" Baljeet called to the boy, running through a field of flowers and looking as happy as a seal. "Bet you can't catch me!"_

"_Oh, yeah?" Buford called, laughing as he ran up to his ex-nerd and tackled him to the ground. They both started laughing, but when Buford sat on Baljeet and started tickling him the Indian boy's face lit up with a joy that Buford rarely saw anymore. "Got ya!" _

"_B-Buford, stop!" Baljeet said, still laughing. Buford did stop soon, and then they looked at each other for a few minutes. Buford leaned in, and right before he was about to kiss Baljeet they were suddenly in colonial times during the Salem Witch Trials. "Baljeet!" he called, seeing the boy he loved tied to a flaming post. _

"_Buford!" he cried before the flames ate him alive, ripping skin off of him in a bloody mess, muscles oozing down till all that was left was bone. _

"_Baljeet…!" Buford called, tears coming to his eyes. He fell to his knees and buried his face in his hands, not caring who saw. _

_When he opened them again, Baljeet was fine and they were walking through a beautiful woodland area that had plenty of blue flowers. The boy smiled at him, suddenly dressed in the overalls he wore when he was a kid. "This is a nice place, is it not?" _

"_I love you, Baljeet," Buford said suddenly, not being able to control the words coming from his mouth. _

_Baljeet went silent, staring up at the boy with his mouth set in a straight line. "I am sorry, I do not feel the same way." _

_Those few, simple words were enough to put a hole right through Buford's heart. "No…" he said as Baljeet started backing away from him slowly; he knew where this was headed. "No, come back!" he called desperately, running forward but not getting any closer to his best friend. _

"_I am sorry, but I have to go away now…" an official-looking letter obstructed Buford's view before he ripped it out of the way, covering his ears yet still hearing that addicting accent continue: "I received an acceptance letter to a far-away college." _

"_No, don't leave!" _

"_This is for the best," Baljeet's voice said, but Buford couldn't see anything except for black. The ex-bully thrashed around madly, trying to find where his foreign friend was. "We can never be together, anyways." _

"_No!"_

"_Goodbye, Buford…" _

"**NO!**_" _

~!~!~!~!~!~

Buford woke up with a fright once more; breathing heavy, heart beating fast and loud, sweat everywhere, brain in a panic. He shut his eyes tight and cradled his head in between his hands, cursing at himself as the tears fell this time. "No…" he whispered to himself in the dark sanctuary of his room. "Please don't leave me… Please… I can't think of anything worse…"

* * *

Buford managed to stay awake during his morning classes this time, but when lunchtime hit he felt like passing out on the lunch table. This didn't go unnoticed by Phineas, Ferb, Isabella, _or_ Baljeet, who were all seated with him. "Those nightmares look like they're _really_ taking a toll on you," Isabella commented, frowning.

Buford yawned, but he didn't have enough energy to raise his head from the table to answer her properly. "I just need to go to bed earlier…" he said lamely.

Phineas bit his bottom lip before saying, "You _really_ need that sleepover." He looked at Isabella and started nervously playing with his ear, "Isabella, is there a way we could postpone…?"

Isabella frowned. "Phineas, you've already postponed eight times!"

"Hey, half of those weren't my fault!" the inventor defended, "and you know how I am when I get an idea…"

Isabella sighed. Honestly, she wouldn't care if Phineas postponed again because at least now he was showing _some_ interest in her, but she had an ulterior motive. She was hoping that if Buford and Baljeet had this sleepover that they'd work everything out and realize that all they needed was each other. And yes, she knew that was corny, but frankly she didn't care. Besides, she had earned her "True Love" patch about a thousand times, so these thoughts were permanently ingrained in her skull.

"I know, but seriously Phineas… don't you _want_ to go out with me?" Isabella asked, putting on a very sad face.

It took everything in her not to smile as Phineas blushed and stammered. "N-no! I, I mean yes, I just… _them!_" he said lamely, pointing at Buford and Baljeet. "They need me and Ferb, don't they…?"

"I see no reason why they can't have a sleepover by themselves," Isabella said, crossing her arms decidedly. She was aware of the cross stare that Baljeet was giving her, but, again, she really didn't care. She fully believed that some quality time alone would be good for these two!

Phineas sighed, leaning on the table. "Isabella…"

"Phineas…" Isabella said, half-way mocking and half-way not knowing what else to say. She leaned in to whisper in his ear, "Don't you want to know what a kiss feels like…?"

Phineas blushed as a shiver went down his spine. It was official; he absolutely, positively, _hated_ puberty. He stood up abruptly and turned towards the lunch-line, hastily calling behind him, "I'm getting some juice!"

Isabella giggled to herself at how cute Phineas was for a second before winking at Baljeet and saying, "I'll go with you!" as she followed the red-head.

Baljeet rolled his eyes and drank some of his milk before his watch beeped. "Oh! That is right!" he exclaimed. "The science club is holding a lunch meeting, I have to go meet with them right now." He stood up, taking his lunch tray in one hand and patting Buford on the back with the other. "Don't die, buddy!" he said cheerfully before scurrying away, leaving Buford and Ferb alone at the table.

"Your bad dream," the British boy said as soon as Baljeet was out of earshot. "It's about you-know-who, isn't it?"

"Man, how do you always know things like that?" the football player asked, just a little annoyed. It reminded him of when Ferb first figured out just how much he actually cared for the boy named "Baljeet." Buford had been genuinely surprised, he thought he'd been doing a pretty spiffy job of keeping these "wrong" and "unnatural" feelings hidden, yet Ferb had no trouble seeing right through him.

Ferb just smiled slightly. "Elementary, my dear Buford."

Buford sighed before forcing his head up to look at the perceptive green-haired boy. "I just… I can't help but feel that one day he's going to leave me," he admitted quietly. "One day there'll be a huge gap between us as he goes on for some fancy-shmancy job and I'm stuck working my but off for a sports scholarship or some physical labor job…"

"You're smarter than you take yourself for Buford, I'm sure you could get a good job."

"Yeah right," Buford scoffed. "People are just lining up to hire people with _my_ attitude." He frowned before laying his head back down on the table. "Besides, what could Baljeet possibly see in a guy like me? I'm rude, I'm crude, and I'd rather fight than sit down and talk."

"You know what they say: opposites attract."

"But in this case, are we too opposite?" Buford asked, sighing. "It's better if we just stay friends… now if only I could get rid of this nightmare…"

"I thought you didn't like that term?"

"Shut up, I'm tired…"

Their table was silent for a moment before Ferb said, "I really think you and Baljeet should have a sleepover."

"Why?" Buford asked, looking at him. Ferb just blinked at him, but somehow Buford just _knew_ what he was saying.

"_It might help you get rid of your reoccurring bad dream. Not to mention that it would give you an opportunity to tell him how you feel, which you _know_ you want to do even if you deny it. It's more than likely that something good will come out of this; just go with it_._ The worst that can happen is that you just stay friends._"

"… It's creepy how you do that," Buford said before leaning back in his chair. "But fine. I'll invite him over…"

* * *

"Hey Baljeet," Buford greeted the boy at his locker in the middle of a yawn.

"Oh, hello," Baljeet responded with a smile. "Still tired?"

"Like you wouldn't believe - anyways, wanna sleep over this Friday?"

"I thought Phineas and Ferb couldn't make it?"

"They can't."

"… So it would just be you and me?"

Buford just nodded, yawning again and struggling to keep his eyes open. He might've been more hesitant about this whole ordeal if he was more awake, but as it was he was too tired to care much about anything. He didn't even notice Baljeet's light blush and how he ducked his head behind his open locker door, gripping the metal tightly. "Sure, that sounds great."

"Cool," Buford said stretching his eyes while they were closed. "Well, I'll see ya tomorrow," he said before turning around and walking away. However, when he took his first step he tripped and fell to the ground. "Ouch."

"Buford!" Baljeet said worriedly, kneeling down next to him. "Are you okay? What the heck happened?-!"

Buford laughed. "I think that's the first time I've heard you say "what the heck.""

Baljeet rolled his eyes. "We can discuss my vocabulary and phrasing later, Buford." He stood up and offered Buford his hand, but the boy just shook his head. "Do you not want to get up?"

"I highly doubt you'll be able to lift me, and I'm too tired to stand."

"At least let me _try_," Baljeet pressed.

"All right, fine!" Buford said before taking Baljeet's hand and pulling him down next to him.

Baljeed landed on the floor with an "oomph!" and immediately grinned and pushed Buford. "You did that on purpose!-!"

Buford just grinned. "And what if I did?"

"Come on, I have to get _home_ you know -"

"_If I lay here~_" Buford started singing, causing Baljeet to laugh. "_If I just lay here, would you lie with me and just forget the world?_"

"That's such an old song," Baljeet said with a chuckle.

"The question still remains, chrome-dome," Buford said, putting his hands up to rest his head on them.

Baljeet propped his arm up to rest his head on his hand to look at his friend easier. "Sure, buddy, but I'm afraid of being trampled!" As he said this, one student almost stepped on his hand.

"Oh, well then… let's roll!" Buford said before rolling closer to the lockers to avoid the student body going past the halls.

Baljeet laughed before rolling after him, but he stopped talking when he rolled directly into Buford. "Oops, sorry -"

"Look out!" Buford said before hugging Baljeet close to him so he wouldn't get run over by a mob of students. "Whew, that was close."

"Y-yes…" Baljeet said, his voice more high-pitched than usual. He couldn't really see much of anything pressed up to Buford's black shirt, but he could smell the musty scent of the boy and feel the heat radiating off of him, which in turn caused Baljeet to blush and feel that weird feeling in his stomach that he got whenever he was so close to the other boy.

Buford yawned before he realized just how close they were, only he just smiled and let his body relax as if he had fallen asleep. "Um, B-Buford?" Baljeet stammered after he felt more of the boy's weight on him. "You can let go now…"

"Nah, too tired."

"Oh, but you were not too tired to roll!"

"That's because -"

"Boys," an authoritative voice interrupted the boy's explanation. "Just _what_ do you think you're doing?"

"Avoiding the mob," Buford answered without hesitation, looking directly up at the teacher's face.

She scowled before ordering them to: "Get up off the floor! You're lucky I don't report you to the principal's office."

Baljeet made an incredulous squeak at the idea of getting in trouble with the principal, but Buford just groaned before letting go of his former nerd so that he wouldn't get in trouble. "I'm sorry, can I get up a little later?" he asked, "I'm not feeling my best."

The teacher rolled her eyes before offering her own hand, so Buford took it and had to restrain from laughing when the skinny woman's face turned red from exertion. When he was finally standing the teacher glanced between the two before making the "I've got my eyes on you" symbol and stalking away.

Buford couldn't help but laugh as she turned the hall. "Oh my gosh, that was _hilarious_."

Baljeet actually smiled a little, now that the danger of being reported was gone. "Yes, that _was_ quite humorous."

Buford laughed more at Baljeet's word choice before ruffling his hair and walking away. "You're a special one, 'Jeet!"

Baljeet couldn't wipe the smile off of his face, nor stop his hands from feeling his hair delicately, not really wanting to put it back to how it was.

* * *

Baljeet was brushing his teeth in his pajamas, getting ready for bed. He couldn't help but chuckle at the toothpaste foam that ran down his chin; he looked like a rabid animal, or a zombie or something. Anyways, had just rinsed his mouth out when he heard his cell phone go off from his room, alerting him he had a text message. He quickly wiped his mouth before going to answer it, seeing the message was from Ferb: "_You should wish Buford a good night's sleep_" was written on the tiny screen, all in proper English as always.

"_Why?_" Baljeet responded, wondering why Ferb had texted simply to tell him _that_. Why would Buford want to hear a good night from him? He had never done that before, and frankly he didn't get the point of it.

"_Wouldn't you be happy if he sent you a "good night" text?_"

… Oh, now Baljeet got it.

"_I guess…_"

"_Good. All right then, good night._"

"_Good night Ferb. Tell Phineas not to sleep-invent again._"

"_*scoffs* Like he'll listen._"

Baljeet laughed at Ferb's last message before typing up a new message to Buford: "_Hey buddy! Just wanted to say good night!_" He hesitated before adding a smiley face cautiously. The idea to type down the heart symbol appeared briefly in his mind, but he quickly ruled that out.

He placed the phone on his nightstand and stretched, and when he yawned he thought of all the times when Buford had yawned earlier that day.

~!~!~!~!~!~

Buford stared at his bead warily, knowing that he should go to bed but not wanting that dream to haunt him again. He puffed up his chest and pointed at the offending furniture. "Listen, bud," he said seriously, "you and I ain't gonna have _any_ problems tonight, are we?"

The bed said nothing because it was, of course, an inanimate object and therefore could not respond.

"Good!" Buford exclaimed before he heard his phone vibrate. He walked over to the coat hanging on his desk chair and dug in the pocket's to retrieve the cellular device before seeing that he had received a text message. From Baljeet.

He almost felt like punching himself by how happy that made him.

It was just that, Baljeet rarely ever texted him, even though they exchanged phone numbers. He certainly never texted him at _night_; what could possibly be written on this text…?

He opened the message up quickly, staring at the words written on the tiny white screen. "_Hey buddy! Just wanted to say good night! =)_"

He didn't realize he was smiling until he saw himself reflected in his phone-case. He tried to straighten out his face before deciding that it was okay for him to smile like an idiot while he texted Baljeet back. "_Lol, thnx. This made my nite =) Good nite urself, 'Jeet._"

He couldn't stop grinning as he thought to himself, _Baljeet can turn that second sentence any way he wants,_ while yawning.

~!~!~!~!~!~

Baljeet was all tucked into bed when he received Buford's reply, the ringtone making him jump. "I should put this on silent…" he said as he answered the phone, his heart racing. Whether or not it was racing from being scared or by the fact that he was anxious to see what Buford had said back was a debatable topic. Either way he couldn't stop smiling as he read his friend's message. "I made his night…?" Baljeet said to himself quietly, feeling very giddy from the thought. He quickly typed, "_I'm glad I made your night ^-^_" before sending it. He was about to put his phone back on the desk before remembering to turn it on silent. Once he did so he laid it on the little bedside dresser and laid down in bed.

Already he knew he wasn't going to bed till late tonight.

~!~!~!~!~!~

Baljeet and Buford exchanged many texts that night, and every time they saw the other's response their faces lit up like a Christmas tree and they were a little surprised they didn't drop their phones in their haste to answer it. Eventually though, Buford had to end it because he felt like the walking _dead_, so after receiving Baljeet's final message he just smiled gently before cuddling his phone and going into a very peaceful sleep.

He didn't have the nightmare Wednesday night.

* * *

The next school day went by like any normal day for Buford, Baljeet, and their friends, though today Buford was more involved because he had actually gotten a good night's sleep - thanks to Baljeet, he said. The Indian then, of course, joked around and said that maybe they didn't need the sleepover after all, but then Buford was all like, "Oh _heeeell_ nah, you're comin' to that sleepover boiiii."

Baljeet was very pleased to see that Phineas did not act any differently around them than he normally would; it looked like Isabella was right. He kind of felt bad for the poor boy; for someone who hated regular puberty he must be having a hard time wrapping his head around "queer" puberty.

Nevertheless, things were completely normal and happy…

Until Thursday night came and Buford was plagued with that same, dreaded nightmare, only this time made worse because some faceless stranger was carving into Baljeet's body… Plucking his eyes out while his beautiful 'Jeet screamed from pain, running the knife deep into those delicate arms and emitting dark red liquid, mucking up that beautiful body while he just writhed in agony… And the previous bully was powerless to stop him; being forced to watch but never being able to stop these horrible events from unfolding…

Buford had no hope of going back to sleep that night.

When Friday morning arrived, his friends were even _more_ worried for him when they found out the dreams got worse… Both Buford and Baljeet were just glad it was Friday, the night of their sleepover.

Neither of them could've predicted what was about to come.

* * *

Buford and Baljeet walked home from school, the former almost passing out and the latter worried sick about him. They were extremely glad when they realized they only had a few more feet to walk before they'd arrive at Buford's house. "I know how you are, 'Jeet," Buford was saying as he opened his front door. "So we'll spend the first hour or so doing homework so you're not freaking out tomorrow night."

"… I think you should take a nap when you get home," Baljeet said, creasing his eyebrows with worry. "You should not work yourself too hard."

"I'll be fine," Buford told him, yawning at the end of his sentence. He opened up his front door and gestured for Baljeet to walk in front of him, so the smaller boy did just that. "By the way, can you help me with my math?" he asked as he closed the door behind them.

"Of course!" Baljeet said, smiling. "You know I love math."

Buford shook his head in exasperation. "How _anyone_ can actually _like_ math is beyond me."

"It is not so bad if you know what to do -"

"There lies the problem."

"All right, I can see this is going to be a long math session then…"

Buford groaned, already not looking forward to this, especially not when his eyelids felt like they were glued apart. "Why is math important?"

"Oh! For many reasons!" Baljeet said, his eyes lighting up.

As the math-loving boy went on a rant of how math was useful in the practical world, Buford just mumbled to himself, "I'm sorry I asked…" before poking the boy and saying, "Hey! Just tutor me already, kay?"

Baljeet nodded before going to sit on the boy's red couch and placing his backpack on the ground next to him. Buford yawned before joining him, putting his backpack next to him on the couch before grabbing his math textbook and setting it in his lap. "Are you sure you do not want to take a nap first?" Baljeet asked, genuinely concerned for the boy's health.

Buford nodded. "Yeah, I'm sure. So, how do I do this problem?"

As Baljeet began explaining the problem, Buford's drowsiness reached a peak and he had to struggle very hard not to fall asleep on the poor boy, let alone pay attention. His eyes kept drooping, blurring the numbers up as his ears turned off and on while his head bobbed. There was absolutely no way he was going to learn _anything_ like this…

"Hey, Buford!" Baljeet's voice suddenly came into Buford's ears loud and clear.

"What?" he asked as he rubbed his listening holes; now his head was starting to ring with that accent…

The Indian boy just sighed before asking, "You did not get any of that, did you?"

Buford shook his head. "Afraid not."

Baljeet sighed as he pointed to the problem. "Do you even know how to _begin_ this problem?"

Buford shook his head, frowning. He hated feeling so dumb around Baljeet… but with his inaptitude for learning combined with Baljeet being in eight honors classes, he ended up feeling like a rhesus monkey wearing a powdered wig most of the time.

Baljeet frowned before setting his hand back on the couch, only instead of him feeling cloth he felt human skin… He blushed and quickly moved his hand off of Buford's before stammering, "S-sorry…"

The boy ceased to function as Buford's hand slowly moved over his; the boy's hand was so big that it covered his entire brown hand easily, filling his whole body with warmth. He wanted to look at Buford, ask him why he was doing this, say or do _anything_ intelligent, but all he could do was stare at their hands with a gaped mouth.

"Can you try explaining it one more time?" Buford asked, smiling. Touching Baljeet's hand like this sent excited tingles through him, which were helping him stay awake.

"What?" Baljeet asked, finally looking up at the boy's face. At the sight of the boy's smile he had the sudden urge to lean in and kiss him, which he _had _thought of before, but he quickly shook his head a little to clear it before Buford's words fully registered in his brain. "Right! The, the problem…" he glanced at their hands one more time before moving his other hand to point at the numbers on the page. He tried his very best to explain, but more often than not his sentences died out as he kept glancing and staring at their hands and thinking…

Did friends hold hands? He didn't _think _they did… but perhaps there were exceptions…? No, no that was stupid; why would there be exceptions for that? But if friends didn't hold hands, then why were they doing it… they couldn't become anything more than friends, could they? Well, he knew he _wanted_ to be more, but did Buford…? Right now it seemed as if he did, but maybe he was just so tired that he didn't even know what he was doing…

No matter what the reason was, this single touch shouldn't make him so happy… should it?

* * *

Buford stretched his arms above his head as he let out a huge yawn. "We're _finally_ done with math! And I actually understand it!" He turned to Baljeet and smiled. "Thanks for that."

"You are welcome…" Baljeet said, rubbing at the hand that had been under his for so long.

"Sorry you didn't get any of your own homework done -"

"Do not mention it."

"Okay, so what do you want to do now?"

"Um…" Baljeet thought before noticing his friend yawn again. "Perhaps we should get ready for bed."

"What?-!" Buford asked, outraged. "But it's only five! We should at least eat dinner first."

At the mention of food, Baljeet's stomach growled. He covered his stomach and flushed from embarrassment, smiling sheepishly. "Eheheh, I suppose I am a little hungry…"

"Great," Buford said before walking into his wood-floored kitchen, Baljeet following close behind. They didn't have a "large" kitchen, but they had plenty of wooden cabinets, a table with four chairs, a countertop with a sink, an oven, a microwave, and a refrigerator; what else do you need? "My mom's not gonna be home till ten though, so we'll just make something simple… Do you like spaghetti?"

Baljeet let out a laugh. "Spaghetti always reminds me of when we traveled around the world with Phineas and Ferb, remember that?"

Buford let out a short laugh before clarifying, "You mean that trip where we shared that spaghetti plate? And almost reenacted that one scene from the "Lady and the Tramp" with those cute dogs?"

"Yes! That's the one," Baljeet confirmed, laughing harder. It was a little awkward now that he thought about it; he had almost kissed Buford that time…

"Aw man, good times…" Buford stared off into space before coming back to Earth and clapping his hands. "All right, let me get everything and then we'll get cooking it!"

"I shall start the stove," Baljeet offered, since he didn't know where anything else in their kitchen was.

"Sounds good," Buford said before he started hunting through his cabinets for everything that he needed. It wasn't long before they had a pot of water on the stove heating up. "So, we let that boil and then put the noodles in, right?" he asked. He was pretty sure he was right, but he just wanted to be safe; he didn't want to eat something that ended up tasting terrible because he cooked it wrong!

"Yes, that's right," Baljeet confirmed. "It's going to take awhile for it to boil though."

"Oh. Wanna watch TV?"

Baljeet bit his lip in hesitation. "Well, okay, but we need to keep watch to make sure the water does not boil over."

"Yeah yeah, whatever," Buford said before picking Baljeet up bridal style and walking them both to the couch.

"B-Buford!" Baljeet exclaimed; he hadn't been picked up like this by the boy for a _long_ time, and all it did was make him blush now because of the intimacy of this position… "Put me down!"

"Sure thing," Buford said with a smirk before sitting down on the couch and setting Baljeet down in his lap, wrapping an arm around his waist lazily. "There, you're down."

"You _know_ this is not what I meant…" Baljeet said quietly, not really wanting to move now. He found himself leaning in to Buford and resting his head on the boy's shoulder as the larger boy's hand grabbed the remote that was in between the couch cushions. Really, he didn't mind this so much… actually, he rather enjoyed such close contact with the large boy, and it seemed that he did not mind either.

"Anything in particular you'd like to watch?" Buford asked, turning the TV on and smiling at him. He found it very amusing when those brown eyes wouldn't meet his own blue ones.

"No, not really," Baljeet said quickly.

Buford laughed before snapping in front of the boy's face to get his attention. "Look at me when you talk to me!" he said, grinning.

"… Ri, right…" Baljeet mumbled, staring into the larger boy's eyes. No matter what he tried he just couldn't seem to look away, and it appeared that Buford was under the same spell.

As the TV droned on about some unimportant commercial, the two boys leaned in. They were so close that they breathed in the other's warm breath, and somehow it just made them want to kiss each other more. When their lips actually met, it was so gentle that when they separated both of them wondered if maybe they had imagined the whole ordeal. So, of course, they kissed again, and this time there was no mistaking what was happening. Buford casually wrapped his other arm around Baljeet's skinny waist and drew him in closer while Baljeet slipped his arms around the bully's thick neck to pull him closer still. Neither of them thought too much into this, much rather preferring to just enjoy the moment and worry about consequences later. After all, they had both _dreamed_ of this… and it was much better than anything they could've dreamed; their minds were hazed with a calming warm fog, their stomachs churned with loving butterflies, and wherever they touched each other the skin tingled, begging for more contact.

When they finally separated to take puffed breaths, they couldn't help but just stare into the other's half-lidded eyes and think, _I love this boy…_ They didn't wait three seconds before they kissed again, this time applying more pressure, and when Baljeet felt the other boy's tongue tenderly lick his bottom lip he shivered, a pleasant moan just waiting to come out by the edge of his throat. They could hear and feel each other's ragged breath as they kissed, and neither of them wanted this wonderful moment to end…

Before they knew it, the heard the unmistakable sound of the water boiling over the pot.

* * *

They sat at the kitchen table awkwardly, both blushing and avoiding the other's gaze as they ate their spaghetti silently. Neither of them had done any talking since their… make-out session, and frankly they were afraid to talk about it. What if the other didn't like it, or regretted it? That would break their hearts…

Eventually, Baljeet broke the silence: "So… how, how do you like the uh… spaghetti?"

"… It's good…"

"… Yeah."

Both boys blushed again as they realized they weren't talking about the spaghetti…

"Maybe we should have made some meatballs," Baljeet commented casually, poking at his noodles.

"Yeah… we could've done that while the water was boiling…"

Baljeet set his fork down gently before taking a deep breath and saying confidently, "Well… I much rather enjoyed the activity we did instead…"

"… Me too…" Buford said with a small smile. They both looked up at the same moment, catching each other's eyes. They both blushed more, but didn't look away this time, and they also started smiling.

Baljeet actually let out a little giggle before picking up a spaghetti noodle and putting one end in his mouth while waving the other around in a circle. Buford smirked before leaning in and grabbing the other end of the noodle with his mouth, all the while looking into the boy's brown eyes.

This time they reenacted the spaghetti scene from "Lady and the Tramp" perfectly.

* * *

"Hey, Buford?"

"Hmm?"

"How long have you… liked me?"

Buford smiled happily before kissing him on the cheek. "Since the summer of eighth grade."

"R-really? Me too…"

They were currently dressed in their pajamas - a white T-shirt with sweat pants - and curled up together on Buford's bed, getting warm under the covers. They hadn't actually talked much, they just kind of laid there; enjoying each other's company, partaking in the occasional kiss. They found this ideal; after all, they could pretty much _guess_ by this point how the other person felt for them.

But there was still a lot to be discussed…

"So, what are we, exactly?" Baljeet asked.

Buford smiled at him before saying, "Well, would you _like_ to be my boyfriend…?"

Baljeet felt a tingling sensation run down his spine at that word, but it was a good feeling. "… I think I would," he answered back with a smile.

"Good, then that's what we are."

A comfortable, cheerful silence washed over them as they contemplated their current relationship… They had went from being "Bully & Nerd" to "frenemies" to "friends" to "boyfriends"… And the thing was, they knew that they should have seen this coming all along.

"Isabella knows about us," Baljeet said suddenly.

Buford chuckled. "Ferb knows too. And I think so does Phineas…"

"So basically, all of our friends knew before us?"

"Yeah. Except for maybe Phineas," Buford said, laughing.

Baljeet giggled a bit before sighing contentedly, but then he started thinking about school, and how not everyone was going to be as accepting of them as their friends… "Buford…" he said sadly, looking into his boyfriends deep blue eyes, "what are we going to do at school…?"

Buford stared at him for a minute before frowning. "I never really thought about that…" he smiled sheepishly, "the main goal for me was to see how you felt about this first…"

Baljeet chuckled before pecking him on the lips and putting a hand to the side of his face. "I feel _great_ about this…" he said with a smile, but as he said this next part his face turned into a frown. "But I'm worried… what if they hurt us, or run us out of town?"

"They're going to have to tear through _me_ first," Buford grunted, wrapping his arms protectively around the boy he loved.

Baljeet smiled slightly. "… We'll make this work," he said surely. "Right…?"

"Of course."

* * *

"No…" Buford muttered in his sleep. "No…!" He thrashed around in the bed, waking up the small boy next to him. Baljeet took one look at him and _knew_ he was having a nightmare; he was sweating profusely, his face was contorted into one of terror, and he kept writhing around saying that one word: "_No!_"

"Buford," Baljeet said, shaking him slightly. "Buford, wake up!" As the boy still writhed in his sleep Baljeet bit his lip before shaking him more violently and shouting, "_Buford!_"

This time the large boy awoke; he sat up in a panic, his eyes looking around desperately for something. Once they locked on Baljeet, he gave the boy a tight hug, trying to keep the tears at bay. As Baljeet immediately hugged him back, the boy just mumbled, "Thank goodness you're here…!"

"Of course I am here," Baljeet said, confused. "Why would I not be?"

"I don't know, I don't know," Buford said, hugging him tighter.

Baljeet kept hugging him back, wondering why the boy was saying these things. He sounded so panicked, but why? He was sleeping over, he was right here… Did he dream about him going away…? "Buford," Baljeet said softly, "did you dream I was gone?"

Buford nodded his head into Baljeet's shoulder. "Yes… you were burned, and cut, and got a scholarship and left me…" He tightened his grip on the small boy even more before saying, "I don't want you to go away, Baljeet. I… I don't want to live without you…!"

Baljeet felt tears spring to his eyes. He sounded so worried, so certain that this was going to happen, and so terrified by the fact. Did he really care so much about him? Baljeet couldn't help but feel happy at that thought, but he also felt sad that he thought he was going to leave him. He didn't want to live with him either! "Buford, I feel the same thing…!" he said, backing up to look the boy in the eyes.

Buford's completely _lost_ expression almost broke Baljeet. "Really?" he asked, tears starting to fall now.

"Really," Baljeet replied quietly, hugging him again. "I'll never leave you, Buford."

Buford's heart felt like it was going to burst with how happy he was to hear Baljeet say that. "I love you, Baljeet."

Baljeet smiled before saying directly into Buford's ear, "I love you too, Buford."

* * *

**I hope you enjoyed it~! Would you mind telling me your favorite part in the form of a review? ^-^  
****I apologize for any mistakes that were made… I wrote some of this kind of late at night ^^;  
****I'm debating whether or not to continue this… Right now it seems perfect to me :3 What do you think?**

**REVIEW PLEASE~! Thank you in advance! I do appreciate any and all reviews or critiques =)**


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